The Best of Rocklahoma 2013, Including an On-Stage Wedding at 2 a.m.

It's always best at festivals like these when you go looking for the party in the campsite rather than let it come to you. Directly around us were several bands, the longest running flip cup tournament of all time, a tiki tent of some sort complete with bar and swimming pool, an official Jägermeister tent and RV, Miss Rocklahoma, and endless other gazebos and small tent villages put together by friends. All of them were welcoming and friendly, and at least they weren't the guy next to us who seemingly spent the entire festival sleeping directly underneath his truck. Go explore! --Gavin Cleaver

It's nice to see that '80s hair metal never went away, being pounded out completely without irony by an incredible number of be-mulleted bands on the smaller stages. The guys in these bands were all in their 20s and all received adoringly by the smaller crowds around the lesser stages, so they were clearly being received with none of the snarky judgments that people like myself may visit on these acts as well. That's heartwarming to see. (GC)
Multiple bands pledged their merch sales to the Moore, Oklahoma, relief fund. That's a pretty great move by bands struggling to tour across the U.S. --Jaime-Paul Falcon
The residents of Pryor Creek, Oklahoma, a tiny town of a few blocks in length, were pretty happy to have the festival, one of several to take place on these particular campgrounds every year. Various banners and signs greeted Rocklahoma attendees, and all the restaurateurs and employees we saw or spoke to were very happy for the upturn in business. There seemed to be no spread of the chaos on the campsite down into the bars of the surrounding town whatsoever, possibly due to the many police DWI patrols around the town. Instead, Pryor Creek was still a model of an old rural American Midwest town, and that was good to see. (GC)